Branstad Confirmed as US Ambassador to China

Terry Branstad has met with Chinese President Xi Jinping numerous times, including during the 2013 China-US Governors’ Forum. [Image: Facebook of Terry Branstad]

Terry Branstad, the former governor of Iowa, was confirmed as the next US Ambassador to China on May 22 with an 82-13 vote in the Senate. He was sworn in on May 24, minutes after he resigned as governor. Various senators and government officials, including former Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack, applauded Branstad’s experience and expertise in US-China relations. During his confirmation hearing, Branstad spoke about further cultivating US-China agricultural connections and finding a mutually acceptable solution for the North Korean dilemma.

Branstad has a longstanding relationship with Chinese President Xi Jinping that dates back to 1985, when Branstad was serving his first term as governor. Xi, then a young agriculture official, visited Muscatine, Iowa as part of a sister-state exchange program with Hebei. Xi returned to visit Muscatine in 2012, where he held a reunion dinner that included Branstad and his host family from 1985. The pair last met in Seattle during Xi’s first state visit to the United States in 2015.